How to Get Rid of Overlapping Stomach Fat

Belly fat is unsightly, unflattering and may lead to other physical ailments such as diabetes, liver disease and congestive heart failure. While there are hundreds of exercises and machines designed to work your abdominal muscles, targeted exercise alone will not remove overlapping belly fat. A combination of cardiovascular and strength-training exercises, calorie monitoring and dieting can aid in the removal of your belly fat.

Walking

Visceral body fat, fat that stores around your organs, is the primary cause for overlapping belly fat. While it is not known why some individuals store more fat as visceral fat than others, walking and other cardiovascular activity is effective at removing this visceral fat. "If you exercise enough to lose 10% of your body fat, you may actually reduce visceral fat by 30%," says Tim Church, of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, in the article "The Exercise Solution" in Prevention magazine. Walking for 20 to 40 minutes per day can burn fat throughout your body and can be maximized by alternating periods of slow to fast-paced bursts. Start by warming up for 3 minutes, followed by 3 minutes of a brisk pace in which you can still talk while walking. Increase your speed to a push pace for 3 minutes, where you can still reply to conversation, but only in 2-3 word intervals. Finally, spend 2 minutes in the power pace, walking quickly enough that no talking is possible. To wind down, reverse the steps, de-escalating from the the power pace to the warmup pace.

Core-Strengthening Exercises

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Crunches and situps work one set of your abdominal muscles, but like any exercise, your stomach will benefit from a wide range of core-strengthening exercises. The plank position is similar to the starting position of a pushup, wherein you must place your feet behind you, straighten your back and hold your body at a 40- to 45-degree angle with your arms. Focus on contracting your abdominal muscles while in this position for 5 to 10 seconds at a time. Another crunch alternative is the rowing twist. Stand with your feet hips-length apart and extend your arms out at shoulder height with your palms touching. Contract your abdominal muscles while swiveling your upper body from left to right for 20 reps per side. For an added level of difficulty, lift one knee to hip-level as you swivel your body. The repeat and lift the other knee as you swivel.

Calorie Counting

The U.S. Department of Agriculture suggests a diet of 2,000 calories per day to maintain a healthy weight. Food choices should consist of 6 oz. of whole grains, 2½ cups of vegetables, 2 cups of fruit, 3 cups of dairy, 5½ ounces of lean protein and 6 tsp. of fats and oils per day. While calorie counting offers dieters a choice of what to eat, consuming a large-sized meal at a fast-food restaurant may contain up to 1,350 calories, leaving only 650 calories to budget for the rest of the day. According to the Mayo Clinic, cutting 3,500 calories from your weekly diet, or just 500 calories per day, can result in losing one pound.

Avoid Empty Calories

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Foods containing high amounts of solid fats, fat that remains solid at room temperature, and foods with added sugar do not offer a proportionate amount of nutrients compared to nutrient-dense foods. Choosing foods with minimal or no empty calories can assist you in cutting calories from your daily diet. Choose to eat unsweetened applesauce or baked chicken versus sugar-sweetened applesauce or fried chicken to fight off any unsightly belly bulge.